Emmanuelle Beart

Paris It doesn't look like a star's apartment, no trophies to her glory, no vanity photos or posters. Emmanuelle Beart lives in an aerie above Luxembourg Garden, with books and giant oil paintings that take center stage, and the sound of children -- her son and daughter -- in the wings. As for the actress, she sits straight, the honey hair in a knot, brow furrowed over sapphire eyes, a slight woman serving tea.

Paris It doesn't look like a star's apartment, no trophies to her glory, no vanity photos or posters. Emmanuelle Beart lives in an aerie above Luxembourg Garden, with books and giant oil paintings that take center stage, and the sound of children -- her son and daughter -- in the wings. As for the actress, she sits straight, the honey hair in a knot, brow furrowed over sapphire eyes, a slight woman serving tea.

Like it or not, plastic surgery is here to stay. Sure, some people will tout the virtues of self-acceptance and aging gracefully and lament that the rise of cosmetic procedures (including fillers, Botox and the like) signifies the swift decline of civilization. But in reality, as long as people see a benefit -- be it in their work, personal or sex lives -- from looking younger or correcting perceived flaws, plastic surgery will continue to be a solution. According to statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 13,828,726 cosmetic procedures -- including the minimally invasive as well as the surgical -- were done in the U.S. last year.

Maxime (Andre Dussolier), proprietor of a prestigious violin repair shop, has fallen rapturously in love with a beautiful young violinist (Emmanuelle Beart, pictured). But she and Maxime's employee (Daniel Auteuil, pictured), a meticulous, diffident craftsman, are apparently on the same wavelength. A 1993 excursion to some of the wilder shores of love and obsession (Bravo Monday at 5 and 11:35 p.m.; Tuesday at 10:45 a.m.).

This 1996 blockbuster has lots going for it: a charismatic star in Tom Cruise (left), Brian De Palma's sleek, elegant direction and lots of action. Yet at any given moment it is impossible to say with any confidence what's going on. Proceed in the reasonably safe assumption that good will surely triumph over evil. With Jon Voight (right), Emmanuelle Beart and Kristin Scott-Thomas (HBO Tuesday at 8 p.m.).

* "Date With an Angel." HBO. $79.99. PG. Emmanuelle Beart has a face that really does look angelic; you almost melt watching her. But when she's not on screen, "Date With an Angel" is an insipid romantic fantasy of seraphic silliness. Michael E. Knight--who finds the angel after it crash-splashes in his pool--does little, and he's surrounded by people who either screech, twitch or kvetch.

Andre Techine's "Strayed," a film of understated, cumulative power, opens with a familiar image, that of Parisians in June 1940 fleeing the imminent arrival of the Germans, jamming the roads heading south. In a small car on a virtually gridlocked road are a beautiful young widow, Odile (Emmanuelle Beart), who lost her husband early in the war, and her two children, Philippe (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet), 13, and Cathy (Clemence Meyer), 7.

Emmanuelle Beart--who plays an angel sent to earth on some mysterious celestial errand in "Date With an Angel" (which opened Friday citywide)--has a face that really looks angelic. Blond, creamy-skinned, delicate, with meltingly lovely blue eyes, she reminds you of the young Catherine Deneuve. Beart was the vengeful daughter in Claude Berri's "Manon of the Springs," and she plays her role here almost wordlessly, with a set of limpid smiles, childish pouts and radiantly adoring gazes.